The Hamilton Spectator:
Hospitals, Mac and Mohawk are helping city turn the page (Oct 5, 2007)
http://www.thespec.com/specialsections/sec...ltonnext/259630
QUOTE The view of Hamilton from the Skyway is a jagged profile of belching smokestacks.It`s part of the manufacturing sector that has defined this city for decades. But some believe that scene from the bridge -- and the manufacturing sector overall -- is merely our past.
They say Hamilton`s future can be found at the other end of town. It`s at the hospitals, McMaster University and Mohawk College. They are all experiencing unprecedented growth, all poised to become the economic engine that could finally tip the local economy into overdrive.
The numbers back that up. Hamilton`s hospitals -- Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph`s -- hold a combined annual budget of $1.5 billion. Their combined workforce stretches to about 16,700. HHS is now the single largest employer in the city. And both are growing, with millions of dollars set aside for new programs and new facilities.
It`s a similar story of growth at Hamilton`s post-secondary institutions, with McMaster`s planned expansion into Burlington and Mohawk`s into Stoney Creek and Brantford. That growth is expected to continue.
HHS`s workforce alone is expanding by almost 3 per cent a year.
It`s an altogether different picture in the manufacturing sector, which lost 11,600 jobs in 2006.
The numbers point to a city in transition, a city moving away from its gritty blue-collar image to one of white lab coats and antiseptic hallways, where knowledge is one of the commodities traded. Headlines of recent years reinforce the view, boasting of public and private investments in health and education, countered by plant downsizings and job loss in manufacturing.
Screaming out among those headlines are words about innovation, an attractive concept for a city trying to move forward. In fact, many believe it is the research taking place in the city that will act as a magnet for skilled workers to the health-care and educational sectors, and give Hamilton the competitive edge to rise to the top.
Six years ago, for example, HHS spent $60 million a year on health research. Now it`s more than $200 million. The goal 15 years down the road is to increase that to $400 million.
McMaster`s plans for Innovation Park, a biotechnology research hub, is the shining example of how research could be the economic tipping point for Hamilton. Add to that the draw of CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory to the park. It will bring 200 jobs, and, just as importantly, hope for a multitude of spinoff research jobs and companies.
Few predict Hamilton will move too far from its roots. Manufacturing remains the lead employer with 57,000 workers in the greater Hamilton area. But many of those jobs now sit with small companies employing hundreds of workers instead of thousands employed by steel giants.
Hospitals and social assistance employ 40,000, but it`s the spinoff sectors that add to their influence -- the nurses, pharmacists and specialists employed outside of hospitals, and the industries which support health care, including pharmaceutical, medical, surgical and orthopedic suppliers.
Add to that the two million people in the catchment area who use hospital services and pump money into local hotels and restaurants.
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"Hamilton`s future prosperity will turn on their ability to attract and retain talent," said University of Toronto`s Peter Warrian, Senior Research Fellow, Munk Centre for International Studies, who is studying Hamilton`s changing economy.
